That Who We Are
by FlamingBlaze
Summary: The most important thing in our lives is to never, ever, forget who we are. Follow Naruto as he is raised by the Akatsuki, completely unaware that his father was the Fourth Hokage or that his brother is a Jinchuriki. Female Itachi. Pairing undecided, either Naruto/Female Itachi, Naruto/Mei, or Naruto/Tsunade. EMS Naruto/Strong Naruto/Smart Naruto. HIATUS


**That Who We Are: Chapter One**

**I apologize for any typos, grammatical errors, and any other mistakes I might make. I'm importing this document from another program, so in the process many things may be changed. If someone could help me beta read it would be greatly appreciated.**

**As for the pairings, I haven't decided yet. It'll be along the lines of Naruto/Tsunade, Naruto/Female Itachi or Naruto/Mei, so yeah.**

**Naruto's brother, Kazuto, will be taking his place in Team 7 and so forth.**

**Notes: Pain was forced to escape as he knew he couldn't win, the other five paths were out doing other missions and Nagato didn't want to lose Yahiko's body or get Konan killed.**

**If you have any other questions feel free to ask.**

**Sorry for the short chapter; it's a prologue sorta thing.**

**(Line Break)**

The blonde haired ninja sighed as he lay with his head on the trunk of the tree, obviously tired by today's events and looking for a good night's rest. _That's impossible, _he thought drily as he tried to make himself comfortable. _How do you get a good night's sleep when you're in enemy territory and have to get up at 3:00 AM?_

_Ah…I can't wait until we get back to Konoha, _the blonde thought wistfully. _I don't mind if I have to wake up at 3:00, because after all, we're going back to the village…I've had enough of this war for awhile, and I think everyone else has too, _he thought as looked around at the camp they had made in the forest. The members of the squadron were obviously just as tired as he was, if not more. The campfire, altered so it wouldn't create any visible smoke, crackled heartily in the cleared grass as it shed a faint light on the party.

"Namikaze-sama…" Minato turned his head to see who was talking to him, and found it was Asuma Sarutobi. He sighed. "Asuma, how many times have I told you to call me Minato while we're outside the village?"

"Sorry…Minato." Asuma said from his spot on top of the tree. "It's clear for now, so you can get some rest."

"You should get some sleep too, Asuma," Minato called. "I've got some shadow clones surrounding the place." There was no reply, and Minato had to be content with that as he laid his head back and went to sleep.

* * *

"Hey, Minato! Get up!"

A voice woke the blonde-haired ninja from his blissful sleep, and he turned over from his spot next to the tree.

"Yo! Minato! Wake up!" Minato was shaken out of his sleep by a rough hand, and the person was now shaking him.

"Huh…" Minato mumbled, still trying to get back to his sleep. The man groaned and he shook Minato again.

"Wake up!"

The blonde ninja opened his eyes lazily to see Chari Uchiha shaking him awake, and Chari smirked at seeing his comrade open his eyes. "Finally up, Namikaze-sama?"

Chari Uchiha was a black-haired Jonin in standard shinobi attire, with the Konoha Flak Jacket, shinobi pants, and sandals, and his forehead protector was strapped to his right arm. His kunai were strapped to his right leg while he had two ninja pouches instead of one, and his dark brown eyes stared at Minato intently.

"It would've been nicer if you could've shown some of that respect when you were waking me up…" Minato grumbled as he got up slowly. "What time is it?"

"3:25, Namikaze-sama." Chari replied, leaping up into the trees and being followed quickly by Minato. He saw that the campfire had been put out, and almost all signs of their camp had been destroyed.

"What?!" Minato said, shocked. "You let me sleep that late? Why didn't you guys wake me up?"

Chari sighed, landing on one of the tree branches and turning to face Minato. "The guys wanted you to sleep longer, so they're already ahead of us. They told us to catch up."

"Heh heh…" Minato grinned, leaping past Chari and through the foliage. "I'll be catching up pretty soon, I wouldn't know about you though…"

"Wha-hey! Hey, Minato, you can't ditch me!" Chari shouted, annoyed and immediately leaping forward. "C'mon, there's no way I can catch up to you! You're the fastest man alive!"  
"Which is why you should hurry up," The blonde ninja smirked, racing ahead of his Uchiha companion with ease. "You wouldn't want to be left behind, would you?"

"C'mon, Minato!" Chari whined, desperately trying to catch up but failing.

"Alright, alright," Minato said, leaping back and grabbing onto Chari's flak jacket. "Hold on." Saying that, the two of them disappeared, already long gone.

"-and that's how he got those bruises on his face!" Ryoku chuckled to the rest of the team, and Asuma laughed while the other shinobi, Jirou Hyuuga, merely nodded.

Ryoku was a tall man with short, matted auburn hair and of a muscular build with steel black eyes, and his katana was strapped to his Konoha flak jacket. Along with the jacket he wore a blue sleeveless shirt, standard shinobi pants, and sandals. He was a thrill-seeking guy with a short temper that many compared to that of Konoha's Red Hot Habanero.

Jirou Hyuuga, meanwhile, was a calm and cool person. His clan's signature pupiless white eyes never betrayed any hint of emotion, and his blackish brown hair came to his jawline; he, like Chari, wore standard shinobi attire with no alterations, and his friends often told him it suited his personality.

"Hey, people!" The voice of a familiar blonde ninja startled them pleasantly. They all turned to find Minato bounding next to them, dragging along a sick Chari Uchiha, whose face was green and retching from the speed.

"It seems like you've been a bit hard on Chari-sama again," Jirou noted, amused as he watched Chari try to regain his posture.

"Well, he did ask for it," Konoha's Yellow Flash smiled before stopping momentarily to let Chari out of his grip. "There you go, Chari."

Chari sighed a breath of relief, glad to finally be out of his grip, and dusted off his jacket before he resumed jumping through the trees. "How much longer until we reach Konohagakure?" The Uchiha asked.

Ryoku checked his watch. "If I'm right, then about in 3 minutes…" At this, everyone breathed sighs of relief, as they all wanted to be back and able to see their families again. There were a few minutes of silence as each of them reminisced on their memories.

"There it is!" Ryoku cried, and sure enough, they could see the gates and buildings of the village in the faint light of the night, and all of them cheered silently in their hearts as they came closer to the gate, all of them leaping out of the trees with one great bound, landing in front of the gate.

To their surprise, there was a small group of people waiting behind the gates, all standing still. Minato cocked his head to the left in confusion, as it was still night, and the shadow of the gate was covering their appearances. None of either party made any sound as they examined each other, one in confusion, and one in excitement.

"Oi, oi…don't you recognize us?"

The entire group shifted, allowing the light to catch their faces, and the returning shinobi all immediately recognized the faces of their family. Not a second later, cries of joy could be heard around the otherwise still village, waking up not a few people.

"Kushina!" Minato cried joyfully as he rushed to his red haired wife, who in turn was no less happy to see her husband.

"Minato!" Kushina cried happily, as she tried to walk as fast as she could with a child in her arms. Husband and wife kissed, before hugging in relief. "I've missed you these past three weeks," Kushina whispered into Minato's ear, and she received a quick reply: "I've missed you too."

When they finally broke from their embrace, Minato looked at Kushina and smirked, "You've only gotten hotter since I left." At this Kushina blushed a deep shade of red, one comparable to that of her hair, her dear friend Mikoto Uchiha would've said laughingly if she were here. Kushina changed the subject hurriedly, trying to avoid embarrassment,

"Naruto's been missing you," the redhead said, referring to the small baby she was currently. The blonde baby whined slightly, annoyed at having to wake up at this time of day. "C'mon, Naruto, you're father's home!"

Minato leaned down, poking his son's forehead lovingly. "Naruto, your father's home," He whispered. As he did, Minato suddenly pushed Kushina away and leaped backwards a few steps, narrowly dodging a shining black rod that now was buried halfway into the ground.  
"My, my, my," A voice called. "The reflexes and speed of Konoha's Yellow Flash really are as good as they say." Konoha's Yellow Flash narrowed his eyes, looking up and finding two ninjas, wearing flowing black trench coats covered by grey body armor on the abdomen, standing on top of the Konoha gate and looking down. One, who looked like a male, had short, spiky orange hair and piercings, while the other, who was female, had blue hair that was mostly tied back into a bun by a blue flower while the rest hung down to her neck. Both of them had forehead protectors with four vertical lines and a slash through them, and at seeing these Minato narrowed his eyes.

"You two are ninja from Amegakure," Minato called from his position. "We have no quarrel with you, so why are you here?"

"Oh, that's where you're wrong," The man with the orange hair chuckled, "We may be originally be from Amegakure, but we are Missing-Nin from Amegakure."  
"Why are you here?" Ryoku shouted, obviously pissed by their sudden appearance.

"My…I thought that would've been obvious by now," The auburn haired man said while bending down. Minato was sent on the alert immediately as the man leapt from his spot on the wall, straight towards Konoha's Yellow Flash. "To kill Konoha's Yellow Flash!" He shouted, extending two black rods from his sleeves and slashing downwards, but Minato dodged easily and the man hit nothing but he recovered fast, rolling forwards and extending his right hand to form a palm. "**Bansho Ten'in!**" He cried, and Minato was suddenly pulled off the ground by an irresistible force, and straight towards the sharp rod the orange haired man had extended.

"Minato!" Kushina cried in horror, watching on as her husband was flying towards a sharp spear that was no doubt going to impale him.

"Shit…" Minato growled, before forming the Horse seal and shouting: "**Lighting Release: Thunder God's Fist!**", and a from his body a large fist of lightning flew forward, striking the man and sending him flying backwards, the electricity crackling around his body, and at the same time cancelling the strange force. Konoha's Yellow Flash landed on his feet before forming the Ox, Dog, and Horse seals, "**Lightning Release: Thundering Destruction!**" making a large bolt of lightning shoot down from the sky with a tremendous bang, straight towards the orange haired man who was now getting to his feet. However, as the lightning streaked towards him, the blue-haired woman suddenly appeared out of nowhere with white wings attached to her back, and it covered the both of them, blocking the lightning strike.

_No way…those wings were able to block the lightning? _Konoha's Yellow Flash thought in shock. Now that the smoke had cleared, he looked closer and saw that they were made of…_paper?!_

"Minato!" His four comrades immediately arrived by his side, ready for a fight and to protect Konoha's Yellow Flash. "You alright?" Chari asked.

Minato nodded curtly, before shouting to the crowd: "Get back! That man has the Rinnegan!"

The reaction wasn't surprising, to say the least. He was met with a chorus of "What?" "Impossible!", but he merely nodded and gestured at the man's eyes, who was emerging from his partner's wings, and all of them saw the characteristic features of the Rinnegan: Black circles all expanding from the pupil against a purple eye.

"No way…" Ryoku murmured as he saw the man's eyes. "What the…Who the hell are you?" He shouted.

The man looked at him distastefully. "I am Pain," He said, before jumping into battle again. Minato nodded, and the five of them leapt into battle with the two missing-nin.

"**Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!**" Chari shouted, blowing a huge ball of fire at the man that just dissipated suddenly when Pain held his hands up. Taking this in stride, Ryoku and Asuma charged forward, Ryoku with his katana and Asuma with his chakra blades.  
"Take this!" Ryoku slashed downwards only for it to be blocked easily, and Pain twisted his arm to create sparks, forcing Ryoku back so he could block Asuma's attacks, which he did. Ryoku let out a chilling war cry, shouting: "**Lightning Release: Electric Flow!**" as he said this he channeled his chakra into his sword, changing it into lightning and releasing it. The result was a badass sword with lightning shooting out at anything near it, and Ryoku grinned before slashing downwards furiously. "Let's see how you take this, bitch!" Ryoku said, stabbing forward, but suddenly he was thrown backwards by an invisible force. _What the fuck…_ Ryoku thought, just before he crashed straight through a tree and fell unconscious. **Shinra Tensei, **Pain thought as he initiated the technique.

As soon as Pain had thrown Ryoku back, Minato jumped in, blue chakra spinning around his hand and forming a ball. "**Rasengan!**" he cried, smashing it forward onto Pain's chest and sending him crashing back.

Meanwhile, Chari and Jirou, Byakugan activated, were in combat with the blue haired woman, who had revealed herself to be called Konan. Chari activated his Sharingan, darting forward and immediately assaulting Konan, who dodged every attack gracefully, and raising a hand, paper flew from inside her trench coat, formed shuriken, and shot forward, straight towards Chari.

"**Kaiten!**" Jirou cried, jumping forward and rotating rapidly, deflecting all of the paper shuriken with ease and creating an opening for Chari, who jumped forward, and forming some hand seals, spat out several small bursts of fire towards their opponent. Konan dodged, leaping to her left and avoiding all the fireballs while summoning paper to her hands. **Paper Shot!** Konan thought, and paper shot out of her sleeves, straight towards the Hyuuga who had just stopped his Kaiten.

_Crap…_ Jirou thought, his eyes widening as he realized there wasn't any time to initiate a jutsu or dodge, and he could only watch on as the paper slammed into his body, slicing through the flak jacket and drawing blood, instantly knocking him unconscious and throwing him against the ground.

"Jirou!" Chari cried in shock, narrowly dodging another hail of paper shuriken. _Thank god, he's not dead, _Chari thought in relief as he saw his chest heave up and down with his Sharingan. "Now…for you," Chari growled menacingly. "You're going down."  
Konan merely raised an eyebrow, and she fired off several more paper shuriken before intiating her **Paper Chakram**, forming a halo of paper above her head and launching it at the Uchiha in front of her. Chari saw it all coming, and he dodged it with ease. Konan's eyes narrowed as she noticed his Sharingan. _Nagato…how are you doing?_

* * *

Minato watched on as Pain dodged another barrage of shuriken, and he groaned. _Damn this guy's good, but I'd expect that; he has the Rinnegan_

Asuma raced in, stabbing and slashing with his chakra blades, but he was knocked to the ground by the invisible force again as he charged in, and Konoha's Yellow Flash was forced to teleported in, blocking Pain's slash and saving Asuma's life at the same time with one of his three-pronged kunai before kicking up, forcing Pain back.

"This is taking too long," Pain said in an emotionless voice before raising both of his hands, and Minato felt the invisible force tugging at him again; and a second later, it was pulling him across, towards Pain. _Shit…_ Minato thought again, and he formed another hand seal. "**Lightning Release: Thunder God's Fist!**" He cried again, launching a fist of lightning at Pain-but much to his surprise, he moved so fast and so quickly that the fist streaked past him and smashed harmlessly against the ground.

"What the…" Minato murmured in wonderment as he continued streaking towards Pain. _Shit, I'm screwed! _**Flying Thunder God Technique! **Konoha's Yellow Flash immediately disappeared in a yellow flash, and appeared on a nearby tree-but he as soon as he appeared, he began shooting towards Pain again!  
"Minato, no!" Kushina cried in desperation, and she tried to run forward hopelessly in order to help her husband in whatever way, in some way, as long as he didn't die-but she failed, because in her panic Kushina had failed to remember she had Naruto in her hands, and she slipped, heads going over heels as her left foot got caught on a rock.

"Kushina!" Minato cried as he watched his wife falling down, and he immediately teleported to her side, catching her from her fall and-surprisingly-completely evading the effects of Pain's Shinra Tensei.

_Impossible, _Pain thought in wonder, looking at Minato as his eyes widened and realized Kushina had lost her grip on their baby, and he was now flying through the air, still covered by blankets and unaware he was probably going to be severely injured in the next few seconds. Minato couldn't teleport or move, as he was still holding Kushina, and he could only watch on in horror…But suddenly, there was a blue streak, and Naruto vanished from his fall onto the ground.

"Hmph…Konan, you're too soft hearted," Pain said as Konan landed next to him, holding the still baby, who was now awake. Konan didn't reply as she stood, hands cradling the baby while her expression remained unreadable. "We're leaving, Konan."

"What-why?" The blue-head asked in astonishment.

"There are too many of them, and the rest of the paths aren't here to support us," Pain stated coolly, "And Namikaze is too powerful for me to take on alone." Pain looked at the Konan, and then the baby in her hands, "Kill the child."

Konan looked at Pain, and if she was shocked, she didn't show it. "No."

"Give us our child back!" Minato shouted, setting Kushina down and charging forward with a forked kunai in each of his hands at a tremendous speed, and Pain was barely able to throw Konan out of the way and dodge himself, but the kunai came close to his face and the edge of it cut his cheek. Pain's eyes narrowed, and he said in that deep, emotionless voice of his: "**Shinra Tensei!**" The blonde ninja didn't even have time to widen his eyes before a strong force took hold of him and slammed him into a tree, causing him to wince in pain, a remarkable feat as most people would be either knocked out or screaming.

"If you won't kill the child, Konan, then I will," Pain said, and he reached forth to stab the child with his rod, but at the last second, Konan moved, causing Pain to stab his right arm rather than his heart, and the child screamed out in pain as blood spurted out of his new wound, his cries being heard throughout all of Konoha.

"NARUTO!" Both Minato and Kushina shouted simultaneously in horror, and in a yellow flash, Minato rushed over, face contorted in a state of rage, killing intent bursting from his body like a dam, and everyone shook at how powerful it was, and even Pain was a bit shocked by the sudden burst of power-so shocked that he was almost hit by Minato's furious attack, but he and Konan had managed to disappear behind the trees.

"We're leaving, Konan," Pain said curtly. "Drop the child, now!"

"No," Konan said. "If we're leaving we're taking the child with us, or we're giving it back."

"Are you insane?" Pain looked at her with his deep purple eyes. "If we hand it to them, they'll still kill us."

"Which is why we're taking him," Konan said, relieved that she had forced him into a corner.

Pain growled, frustrated, but he turned on his heels and immediately began leaping through the trees, Konan following behind with the child still crying.

"There!" Minato growled, and he disappeared, already heading to get his child back, and he was followed quickly by both Chari and Asuma.

"Minato…Naruto…" Kushina said, tears rolling down her face.

* * *

"Give me back my child, you cowards!" Konoha's Yellow Flash shouted in rage, darting through the trees in a yellow blur, so fast that the naked eye could barely see the blur itself. The Akatsuki duo were forced to quicken their pace, but even at their maximum speed they had no hope of outrunning the fastest man alive.

_I'll have to distract him or slow him down, _Pain thought as he clapped his hands together, and then stopping for a second, cried out "**Shinra Tensei!**" and the trees all suddenly broke off the ground and flew towards Minato, who was also knocked off of his feet by the force and sent flying back. Pain knew this wouldn't last and he went as fast as he could, trying to think of ways to get out of here furiously. _Argh…Shinra Tensei won't put him off forever, soon he'll find a way around it. _Pain thought, frustrated. _The only way is to hide from him…_ Pain grabbed Konan's Akatsuki robe, pulling her down with him as they ducked under the trees and extinguished his chakra signature. "Extinguish your chakra signature," Pain hissed as they landed behind a tree, "And shut that baby up!" Konan nodded and covered the baby's mouth, stifling his cries.

"He's losing blood fast," Konan mouthed to Pain.

Pain looked at her, disinterested. "There's extra blood back at Amegakure, that we can inject into him to compensate for his blood loss." He mouthed back.

However, they were both interrupted from their conversation by a sharp shout from above, "GIVE ME MY SON BACK! COME OUT, COWARDS!"

Pain nodded to Konan, and then, careful not to give away their position through chakra, they moved silently through the foliage.

Konan sighed.

It would take a while to get to Amegakure.

Meanwhile, there was a heartbroken, pained, pitiful howl from above them.

* * *

**Two hours later**

"Get him to the medical ward!" Konan shouted, frantic as she gestured at Naruto who wasn't even moving, much less crying, now, and his face had gone deathly pale **(A/N: At this time, Tobi has not joined the Akatsuki yet, so there are lots of members.)**

Was this supposed to be food for worry?

Probably.

"The medic's here, Konan," A woman with long blonde hair said, bowing and extending her arm. "This way." Konan nodded and followed the woman, holding Naruto close to her-due to her motherly instincts and what she had gone through, she felt obliged to take care of the baby.

As they entered the medical room, she scanned the room and found that in the back of the room was a man in the back with piercings, his long orange hair coming past his shoulders, and his eyes were the characteristic purple of the Rinnegan. _The Human Path, _Konan thought in surprise. "Why are you here, Nagato?"

"The medic thought you might need my knowledge during the blood transfusion," Pain said, looking at the other two people in the room; one the woman who had lead Konan here, who left quickly, and the other was the medic, a brunette dressed in the standard uniform of the Akatsuki and her forehead protector strapped to her waist, who hurried to take the still baby from Konan's arms and lay him on the steel table in the center of the room, which had been warmed by the heater underneath it.

"This child has lost too much blood," The medic said, bowing her head respectfully, "My medical ninjutsu cannot replenish it."

"Then what can we do?" Konan asked, panicking slightly as she looked at the deathly pale Naruto.

"We need a blood transfusion, but not from either of you as his blood type is A, and both of yours are B," The medic replied.

"We do have some blood in storage, don't we, Nagato?" Konan asked, looking at the Human Path with a pleading look.

"We do," Pain said emotionlessly, "But it's Uchiha blood from our last skirmish with the rogue-nin."

"What will that do?"  
"Due to his Uzumaki blood, any post-effects normally felt by those who have experienced severe blood loss will not affect him, and furthermore, it will grant him the potential to activate the Sharingan. However," Pain said after seeing the questioning look on Konan's face, knowing what she wanted to ask, "He will not activate the Rinnegan due to him being too distantly related to the Senju. If he does activate the Mangekyou Sharingan, his eyesight will not deteriorate due to his Uzumaki blood-in fact, his blood can even act as a healing tonic or cure for specific conditions."

Konan nodded in relief and rushed out to get the blood, disappearing in a flicker through the **Body Flicker Technique.**

_She really cares for this child, _Pain thought, a little bite surprised, and he was further surprised when Konan appeared again in the room, holding a plastic bag with a crimson liquid sloshing inside. _I've never seen her move that fast before…that blood was stored in the third floor, twenty seven floors down! _Konan handed the blood to the medic, who quickly poured it into a cylinder, attached it to a small machine, and plunged the connected needle into Naruto's right arm.

"This child's wound is also infected," The medic told Pain and Konan, grabbing a few bandages off the nearby counter and anti-infectant, applying it to the wound before wrapping the bandages around his arm. "He should be fine now."

Konan sighed in relief while Pain merely nodded and left the room, but Konan took a seat in the corner and sat down, deciding to wait by the child's side.

While Pain walked out into the empty corridor, his mind was racing as he thought about this child-he was a Uzumaki, and now he possessed Uchiha blood, which no doubt gave him close to unlimited potential. If he could activate the Sharingan, coupled with his resilient life force and strength, he could become a crucial part of his plans…

…and bring peace to this world.

Naruto Namikaze-no, Uzumaki now; it would be best for a name change-would definitely change the world.

* * *

**A/N: And there you go! That's the prologue, and once again I apologize for the chapter being really short. The next chapter will definitely be longer, and it will take place 18 years from now. Just as a note, Naruto was born at around the same time as Female Itachi/Izumi (that means fountain and spring by the way), so they'll be on the same team in the Akatsuki.**

**This chapter was really hard to write because we don't really get much about Minato's abilities other than he can teleport/he's fast and can use the Rasengan, coupled with the Deva Path's ability kinda made it really hard for the two to be compatible in a fight.**

**For some extra info about the OCs in Minato's squad:  
Chari Uchiha- dies in the Third Shinobi World War, a year after Naruto was taken by Pain and Konan, and can use Fire Release and Wind Release. Very similar in personality to Kagami Uchiha.**

**Jirou Hyuuga- a very powerful Byakugan user from the main branch of the Hyuuga clan. Jirou retired from the shinobi world after his left leg was crippled in a battle with Iwa shinobi. Might make an appearance later on.**

**Ryoku Kurosawa- a Konoha Jonin who specializes in Kenjutsu and Earth Release. Knows some Lightning Release. Out of the squad, he and Asuma are the only ones who are still in active duty. He will make an appearance later on.**

**That's it.**

**Just saying, if you guys want me to change the name of Female Itachi (Izumi), tell me and I'll think about it.**

**Signing off,**

**FlamingBlaze**


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